Kitestring - a good idea or false sense of secuity?

Kitestring is a relatively new idea that is supposed to alert a nominated person by text if you fail to answer a check-in text from the service. No app is required as it uses text alerts and you have 5 mins to reply to the check-in text before the alert is sent to the nominated number(s).

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Instead of relying on friends or protective parents to check up on your whereabouts, a new service can send you with a text message to check you are safe instead.Kitestring sends a user's emergency contacts a text message if they do not reply to a 'check in' message on their phone.

KiteString websiteI'm not sure this is a good idea. What if you forget to reply to the text alert or the phone is out of signal range or battery dead? I can see a lot of people panicking unnecessarily having received the emergency alert or simply ignoring it when they may be a real emergency!

Forum Moderator and CustomerCourage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark TwainHe who feared he would not succeed sat still

Re: Kitestring - a good idea or false sense of secuity?

Unless those friends/relatives/protective parents have a very detailed knowledge of the persons activities and whereabouts at the precise time(s) those "check up" texts are sent, then one can only wonder what action they could take, if they got the message back that the text had not been replied to........ How many people will "truthfully" tell anyone exactly when and where they are going to be,. and be able to stick to what they have said? not everyone runs their life according to a timed schedule of events.

Re: Kitestring - a good idea or false sense of secuity?

How many people will "truthfully" tell anyone exactly when and where they are going to be,. and be able to stick to what they have said? not everyone runs their life according to a timed schedule of events.

Apparently their FAQ covers that to some extent:

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I’m taking a while to get home. Can I extend my ETA?Of course. Just text Kitestring a new ETA like “15m”. For security purposes, we will not allow you to extend your trip more than an hour past your original ETA (but you can always check in and start a new trip).

I still wouldn't use it!

Forum Moderator and CustomerCourage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark TwainHe who feared he would not succeed sat still

Re: Kitestring - a good idea or false sense of secuity?

I'd rather just check up with the mighty online phone finder service to see where they are if there not responding to text's (my eldest never responds to them and regularly wont answer phone calls) given the number of different "piece of mind" options around I'm surprised that something like this exists any more, never mind that it requires the user to remember to send the start text for each trip so they can get safety messages to respond to .....I would rather give an oap a gps broach with a panic button to burble the data direct to my phone complete with locator ......